A housewife named Helene
Delambre (Patricia Owens) is framed for
murder on her husband Andre (David
Hedison) by the press of her plant to
press his head and left hand after a
horrible incident and is cautious on
anyone killing a house fly in her house
as she tells her bother in law Francois
(Vincent Price) and Inspector Charas
(Herbert Marshall) as to why she killed
her husband and her strange behavior.
Andre is a scientist and invented a
matter transportation apparatus, and
while experimenting with himself, a fly
entered the chamber, exchanging one hand
and the head with him after the
transference.
This fly isn't an ordinary fly as her son
Philippe (Charles Herbert) caught it and
showed it to her telling her that it had
a white head unlike the rest and she told
him to let it be free which was the cause
of the whole mess as Andre is partly
transformed into a giant fly with his
head and one arm changed and can't seem
to talk anymore and is sending messages.
His life was miserable that he didn't
want to live the rest of his life like
that plus he can't seem to control
himself.
This film was
considered a horror classic and one of
the original giant insect horror films.
So my question is. How come I don't agree
with it? I found it very slow, boring and
I almost fell asleep to watching it.
There were some good performances and the
direction wasn't too bad which I credit
this film from not bombing. Also, there's
a great scene on the main character
revealing himself as a fly which looked
cheesy now but back then I can see why it
would look creepy.
There's also nice machine types of
effects that involved the two
transporters too which was interesting to
watch.
Close to the ending of the film was just
so weird and bizarre which was memorable
to anyone who has seen this film. This
was one of those classic drive in movies
and I am very interested in those types
but not this one I'm afraid.
Over two decades later a remake was made
directed by David Cronenberg but
the story was completely different and
the only thing that these two film's had
in common was the two transporters. But a
remake should be that way than to see a
repeated story again in which we see
nowadays since Hollywood is running out
of ideas.
This one was followed by a sequel titled Return
of the Fly so we have to watch
this clunker again.
The acting is
descent for it's time as we have a good
performance by David Hedison as
a playboy type of character in the film
acting full of life and really bringing
out his character to the screen. He also
does well by acting disturbed after
slowly turning into a fly showing a nice
versatality to his role in the film.
Patricia
Owens was probably the best out of
the whole cast in which she does a fine
job by acting overly paranoid, intense
and disturbed after the whole incident
during the beginning of the film and
acting calm and easygoing when the story
is told. She brought otu alot of great
energy to her part in the film.
Vincent Price didn't play a maniac
or criminal in this one and instead
played a descent everyday nice guy which
was a nice change and can do an okay job
while doing so even if he still sounds
creepy when he talks in the flick.
Herbert Marshall brought a great
seriousness to his part in the film as an
inspector acting almost emotionless to
what he had to portray and being very
well focused too. He didn't seem to have
a lacking moment with his character at
all.
Charles Herbert was a nice drawing
card to the film as a nice charming young
boy in the film fascinated in insects.
You can tell he really tried hard by
portraying this role and played the
perfect typical little kid who's curious
about stuff.
Kurt Neumann was
quite slow with his work on this film as
he shows some serious dialogues between Vincent
Price and Patricia Owens
being questioned by Herbert Marshall
as an Inspector on a homicide. It seemed
to come well together with a good serious
attitude on all of the actors that were
coached for this scene.
There's a nice moment with supporting
actress Betty Lou Gerson as a
nurse serving breakfast to Owens
in bed and then a fly zooms around with a
good shot on Owens looking at
the fly and focusing where it's going.
There's a perfect inentse moment with her
screaming at Gerson and going
into a rage when she tries to kill it
which is a nice touch to the story thanks
to Neumann's direction on it
making you wonder why she's acting like
this.
There's a good dialogue at a dinner table
between Price and child actor
Charles Herbert as uncle and nephew
discussion about his Mom and about a fly
he saw outside that's different than the
others with good close up shots on each
of them when they have a discussion.
There's a good moment between Owens
with David Hedison showing her
his creation with many good shots on the
machinery coming to life when he shows
how her saucer was transferred from one
transporter to the next as well as them
reading it showing the letters where the
saucer was made written backwards.
There's a nice shot on Hedison
when he turns around to see if his cat
was sent to the next transporter with a
good wide eyed shocked expression on his
face which looked perfect.
There's a good scene between Herbert
telling Owens on a certain fly
he caught which looked impressive and
leaving a nice feeling that something
nightmarish was going to happen.
There's some good scene's with Owens
trying to talk to Hedison with
him hiding his face in a cape and later
on exposing his arm which was a fly's
claw and a nice screaming reaction on Owens.
There's some good tense moments with Owens,
Herbert and supporting actress Kathleen
Freeman as a maid trying to catch a
fly in their house with many good close
up shots on the fly as their reactions
were very well done.
There's a good gross out scene with Owens
giving Hedison a meal and him
gorging out on it. Then there's a great
encouraging moment with Owens
towards him to try and transport himself
again as there's a good energetic
direction on this.
There's a good shot on Owens
removing Hedison's blanket from
his head with a great close up shot on
him habving a face of a fly and a nice
close up shot on Owens screaming
in terror as well as a nice 3D shot on
her screaming, then backing away as well
as passing out which showed some nice
timing.
Then there's many great shots on Hedison
smashing his creation and destroying his
papers on it as he does well by acting
menacing on all of this.
There's a good shot on Owens
helping Hedison crush the parts
of him as a fly as well as her screaming
in terror with the machine crushing him
to death and her crying.
There's a good impressive moment with
Herbert telling Price about the white
headed fly he saw on a spider web with
Price getting anxious and then insisting
Marshall to come outside and see it.
There's a good camera shot looking up on Price
and Marshall looking at the
spider web in shock as well as a nice
shot on Hedison looking in
terror being caught in the web with the
spider coming right at him.
There's terrific
old classical music with the odd weeping
violin music for the upsetting moments as
well as the strong trumpet playing for
the adventureous and suspenseful scene's
too all done by Paul Sawtell.
Andre
Delambre: [about the cat killed by
the transporter] She disintegrated
perfectly, but never reappeared.
Helene Delambre: Where's she gone?
Andre Delambre: Into space... a
stream of cat atoms...
[sighs]
Andre Delambre: It'd be funny if
life weren't so sacred.
Andre
Delambre: Help me! Help meeee!
François
Delambre: You've commited murder just
as much as Helene did. You killed a fly
with a human head. She killed a human
with a fly head.
François
Delambre: No, Helene and Andre
believed in the sacredness of life. They
wouldn't harm anything...not even a fly.
Police
doctor: I shall never forget that
scream as long as I live...
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